With Frostbite, Activision borrowed familiar
ideas from two previous hit games, namely Q*Bert
and Frogger. In this Steve Cartwright-designed
platform game, the goal is to make Frostbite Bailey jump
from one row of ice to another as they move in opposite
directions down a raging Arctic river. Each jump changes
the color of the floe chips and adds a block to your igloo.
You must complete the igloo before the temperature (which
starts at an already unpleasant 45 degrees) drops to
zero and you're turned into a frozen statue. However, the
rapidly declining temperature is the least of your worries.
Enemies such as snow geese which try to push you off the
relative safety of the ice, killer crabs and clams, and a
polar bear are among your adversaries which stand in the way
from warmth and comfort.

The number of foes varies from screen to screen and, for the
most part, you can only jump forward, backward or diagonally.
There is very limited lateral movement and only in screens
where the ice is more plentiful.

Steve Cartwright has taken a familiar theme and given it
new life by adding new strategy elements to it. You can't
simply jump across the river and rest. You often have to
jump tirelessly from floe to floe before you can reach dry
land safely again. And sitting on the ice floes to wait is
no cakewalk either, not with birds that swoop down and
try to shove you off the ice. Regaining the shore is also
a matter of timing. One false step and instead of going
home to your igloo, you will be the igloo.